RetroLife

Platform legwrap sandals from Victoria's Secret

These cute little numbers are on sale for $63 at victoriassecret.com.

Nancy Drew Address Book from FredFlare.com

This cute little address book featuring vintage Nancy Drew bookcover art interspersed throughtout is available from FredFlare.com for $13.95.

Retro Buttons from Reprodepotfabrics.com

Another gem from Reprodepotfabrics.com, these cool retro Coney Island buttons will add a little character to your next sewing project. There are also some nifty travel, science fiction and tattoo flash designs.

Retro Juicer

This enamel and chrome-plated retro citrus juicer is available from goldaskitchen.com for $70.00.

Coconut Islands -- 1954

From Pillsbury's 5th Grand National Recipes

While those mid-century cooks might have had some crazy ideas about gelatine and canned meats, they definitely had a way with cookies. This chocolate/coconut cookie recipe by Sister Maria Jose Cannon, a nun from Honolulu, won her the $2,500 third prize in the 5th annual Pillsbury Bake Off in 1954. See the full recipe.

This recipe was complex in that it seemed to have a lot of steps and ingredients, but easy in the respect that there wasn't a lot of opportunity for error. They definitely taste more chocolatey than coconuty, although the coconut is a nice touch. When I first tried one, I was surprised at how moist and tender they were. My boyfriend said "They're like coconut dunkin' donuts" which was a pretty accurate assessment of the chocolate cake-y cookies with the sweet chocolate frosting. The shelf life was good and they were still tender a few days after they were baked. This one gets a thumbs up all around.

Temporama by Canonsburg

Here is another mid-century modern dish pattern that can still be easily found on ebay. Canonsburg's "temporama" can still be had for reasonable prices, although more desirable pieces (such as this butter dish) go for a bit more.

Molasses adds Iron

From the HomeMaker's Encyclopedia -- 1954

Captions anyone?

Swank up your computer at Pixeldecor

If you're looking for some retro designs to dress up your computer desktop, Pixeldecor.com has lots of themes and desktop wallpaper tiles in swanky retro prints, like this:

The password to download is available in the sidebar on the left side of the page.

Mid-century-modern.com furniture sale alert!

From today (May 5) until May 12, Mid-century-modern.com is having a sale on all products manufactured by Knoll. For one week, get 43% off and free shipping! They're still expensive, mind you, but a $1000 piece of furniture for less than $600 is worth checking out if you've got a chunk of spending money. If not, just browse the pretty pictures and sigh.

Cruisers by Elektra bicycle company

Don't have room for a hotrod? How about a stylish, flamejob-sporting bicycle? The Cruiser models at electrabike.com come in styles from the more classic sleek retro look of the Cruiser Deluxe (above) to more Kustomized, flamed-up Rat Fink and Rat Rod models. They range in price between about $200 and $400 and there are less-expensive versions for kids.

Thanks to Lady Aye for the tip!